British actress Dame Helen Mirren won best actress award at the Rome International Film Festival for her depiction of Leo Tolstoy's wife in Michael Hoffman's "The Last Station".
The 64-year-old wore a white skirt and black jacket to collect the Silver Marc Aurelio Jury Award on Friday.
A Danish film about a gay love affair between two members of a neo-Nazi group won top honors while Meryl Streep picked up a career achievement award.
The winning movie, "Brotherhood," takes a hard look at the neo-Nazi group that the leading character, Lars, joins after leaving the army.
The group carries out raids on homosexuals, but Lars and his mentor in the group, Jimmy, begin a love affair that they try to keep secret.
"Brotherhood" is the first feature film by Nicolo Donato, a 35-year-old who previously worked as a fashion photographer.
The jury handing out the awards was headed by Oscar-winning director Milos Forman.
The best actor award went to Italy's Sergio Castellitto, who played a single parent and blue-collar worker dreaming that his son will become a boxing champ in the movie "Alza la Testa."
The festival paid homage to Streep through the career award and a retrospective of her work.
Her cooking flick "Julie & Julia," in which she plays Julia Child, was shown out of competition and was chosen to close the festival.
At the award ceremony, a black-clad Streep was presented with the career achievement prize by Giuseppe Tornatore, the Italian director who won an Oscar for best foreign film with "Cinema Paradiso." AP
